When Buffy the Vampire Slayer burst onto screens in 1997, it took the world by storm, but the show almost had a very different cast.
Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey stopped by the Shut Up Evan: The Newsletter podcast to reveal she was approached for the role of Willow Rosenberg.
The actress revealed that she was initially uninterested in working on TV at that time.
“It was kind of a visa issue,” the 46-year-old said in the podcast segment filmed before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
“But not really. I also was not sure about doing television at that time.”
“It was very early in my career. I had a very old-school agent who was like, ‘TV? That’s for has-beens!’ and I was like, ‘I don’t think it is anymore,'” she said.
“Certainly, now, things have really changed, but I just wasn’t super into it at the time.”
The role ultimately went to Riff Regan, but Joss Whedon reached out to her when the position was recast following the pilot.
“[Joss] said, ‘Now do you think you would want to do it?'” the actress recalls before saying she watched the pilot.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is good,’ and I kind of took my agent into it. And then, it became this whole thing of, ‘Well, now you have to audition.’ So I auditioned. Then: ‘Oh, they didn’t like what you were wearing.’ It was a whole process. And then I didn’t get it!”
Alyson Hannigan ultimately got the role and starred in all seven seasons of the WB/UPN drama.
Lynskey currently stars in Showtime’s Yellowjackets, which has already been renewed for Season 3.
Since its launch, the series has delivered solid ratings for the premium cabler and seems to have a bright future.
The actress also recently starred as Kathleen on HBO’s The Last of Us, a role that recently earned her an Emmy nomination.
“Thank you forever @clmazin for creating this intriguing character who might be ok if not for her veendeeta,” Lynskey wrote on Instagram earlier this month.
“I can’t believe you asked me to play her. You sent me two perfect scripts and a list of Calgary’s best restaurants, and it was the easiest yes of my life,” she recalled.
“This was the experience of a lifetime.”
What are your thoughts on Lynskey as Willow?
Hit the comments below.
Yellowjackets is currently on hiatus at Showtime.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.